“Young Master Jiang?” Ye Shaohua narrowed her eyes slightly.
That title sounded vaguely familiar.
Hearing Ye Shaohua’s voice, Ye Junwan beamed. “It’s Jiang Zijin—son of Lord Jiang, and also Shanghai’s diplomatic prodigy. The family handles all foreign trade matters. Of course, Sister, it’s only natural that you wouldn’t know him.”
When Ye Shaohua heard the name Jiang Zijin, her expression turned a little odd.
She hadn’t realized Jiang Zijin was so famous.
Forgive her, but she’d never really thought much of him—he’d always seemed like little more than a tagalong to her.
“Junwan really is something else,” said Ye Junjin’s husband, who had been maintaining an aloof silence the entire time and hadn’t even glanced at Ye Shaohua. But when he heard Ye Junwan’s words, he actually broke into a warm smile. “Your father and I went through so many connections trying to get in touch with the Jiang family, but we never managed it.”
The whole family was in high spirits as they chatted about this.
And why wouldn’t they be?
Just imagine how exclusive a banquet hosted by the Jiang family would be!
The people attending would all be big shots from various provinces and territories. If Ye Junwan could bring them in, setting aside everything else, just getting the bank issue and Ye Junqing’s problem resolved would be a piece of cake.
Speaking of Ye Junqing and the matter with her in-laws, it wasn’t exactly a major scandal—other people made similar mistakes too.
But you see, nobody can withstand a thorough investigation.
In the end, it all comes down to connections in this world.
Auntie Hong watched how the people at the table treated Ye Shaohua and pressed her lips together. She really shouldn’t have told Second Miss about this dinner.
Ye Shaohua herself wasn’t nearly as worked up as Auntie Hong. She understood the lay of the land perfectly well—when you have money and power, plenty of people will flock to you. Right now, she was just a jobless, powerless young woman with no influence, and one her parents didn’t even favor.
Why would her older sister, younger siblings, or brother-in-law ever take her seriously?
Even in modern society, everyone’s shrewd. If you hold either money or power, your relatives will come crawling. But if you don’t, they’ll look down their noses at you.
So Ye Shaohua truly didn’t feel any particular way about it.
“That’s right,” Ye Father said, looking at Ye Junwan with equal warmth. “Junwan, are you close with Jiang Zijin? How did he invite you?”
“We weren’t really close before, but a few days ago I ran into him at a hotel,” Ye Junwan smiled. “He asked for my name and whether I was from the Ye family. After that, he covered the whole meal for me and my friends, and enthusiastically invited me to the banquet.”
“You should get along well with him,” Ye Father said. With the Jiang family’s backing, all these messy issues at the Ye household would pretty much be sorted. Naturally, he was in high spirits. “If you have time, you can invite him over to the Ye residence.”
Ye Father still had shallow roots in Shanghai and didn’t know many politicians.
He’d basically followed under Tang Feng, and most of those scholarly types looked down on people like him.
So whenever trouble arose, aside from going to Tang Feng, he really had no one else to turn to.
And even Tang Feng was helpless in this case.
But now, with Ye Junwan having connections to the Jiang family, everything would be much easier.
With that thought, Ye Father’s gaze toward Ye Junwan grew even more affectionate.
“Oh, by the way, Second Sister,” Ye Junwan said, smiling as she watched Ye Shaohua eat in silence with her head down. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she asked, “Have you been in touch with Second Young Master Tang lately?”
“No idea,” Ye Shaohua replied flatly.
How could she stay in contact while on a classified mission?
But Ye Junwan didn’t know that. She just watched Ye Shaohua with her eyes lowered, a trace of relief flickering in her own gaze.
Ye Shaohua couldn’t care less what Ye Junwan was thinking.
Still, she now understood why the Ye household had suddenly become so carefree.
They were all counting on Ye Junwan to have found herself a patron.
But… who told Ye Junwan that just going to a banquet would guarantee her a powerful backer?
Ye Shaohua lowered her gaze and let out a soft chuckle.
“Second Miss, what are you laughing at?” Auntie Hong asked after the meal, as Ye Shaohua returned to her room to rest.
It had been months now, and the Ye family still hadn’t mentioned anything about moving Ye Shaohua to a better room. Auntie Hong’s heart grew heavier by the day. She even recalled the time Ye Mother had tried to arrange a husband for Ye Shaohua.
Ye Junjin had already married and moved out, yet her courtyard sat empty and no one else was allowed to live there.
If Auntie Hong hadn’t watched Ye Shaohua grow up with her own eyes, she’d have suspected the girl was adopted.
And here was Ye Shaohua, lying back with one arm behind her head, letting out a light, carefree laugh—completely oblivious to it all.
Sigh.
“Just felt like it was amusing, so I laughed.”
The Jiang family gathering was extremely important.
On that day, Tang Feng mobilized a significant number of troops.
Ye Junwan only brought her older sister and brother-in-law.
Even though the invitation said family members were welcome, she didn’t feel comfortable bringing the whole clan—she only brought her brother-in-law, who was used to socializing with others.
To her surprise, most of the people here were strangers to her.
It was only then that Ye Junwan realized just how narrow her world had been. The circles she’d moved in were nowhere near the top tier. And those so-called “literary prodigies” everyone talked about were just flattering titles—nothing worth taking seriously.
“Jin’er, Fourth Sister,” Ye Junwan didn’t recognize anyone, but Ye Junjin’s husband did. Spotting one of the guests, he lowered his voice and warned them, “This isn’t like the Ye household. Think twice before you say anything here.”
As the three of them were speaking, they noticed everyone suddenly turn to look toward the entrance.
Ye Junwan smiled and followed their gaze. When she saw Jiang Zijin standing beside a young woman in a schoolgirl uniform, her eyes cold and distant, she froze.
That… Ye Shaohua?
